I have yet to find any evidence that they lied to consumers to trick them into buying the game. I watched every video there has been up to release. The most recent ones pretty much said the game is as we recieved it. I didn't expect every bit of the concept they had in 2005 to be in the game, especially after playing with the Creature Creator. I knew what I was getting.

Calling Maxis a "conman" says that they specifically lied to you, telling you EXACTLY what you were buying, only to say "yoink!" and shove something else into your outstretched hands. That's not what happened. That is illegal, and Maxis/EA would be in a heap of legal trouble for that.

May the Brambler Empire bring peace to the galaxy... as long as the Oston Empire doesn't buy it first.
Claudio, Ambellina, Jesse, The Writing Writer, Mayo Deftinwolf

unclecaveman wrote:I have yet to find any evidence that they lied to consumers to trick them into buying the game.

Lies of omission are still lies.

There were things we were told about the premise, focus, and purpose of the game early on that were not explicitly withdrawn later; in my book, that's lying. Especially since, even AFTER the change in focus was firmly established, waxing eloquent about the inspiration for the game was still part of WW's presentation when showing Spore.

No matter how you look at it--unless you look at it from behind Maxis-can-do-no-wrong filters, I suppose--we were essentially misled.

The problem is that Spore has become a coloring book instead of a chemistry set
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unclecaveman wrote:I have yet to find any evidence that they lied to consumers to trick them into buying the game.

Lies of omission are still lies.

There were things we were told about the premise, focus, and purpose of the game early on that were not explicitly withdrawn later; in my book, that's lying. Especially since, even AFTER the change in focus was firmly established, waxing eloquent about the inspiration for the game was still part of WW's presentation when showing Spore.

No matter how you look at it--unless you look at it from behind Maxis-can-do-no-wrong filters, I suppose--we were essentially misled.

Hmm... that is one way to look at it. I read it as literally lying by saying "yes, yes you can do such and such" knowing full well that you couldn't.

May the Brambler Empire bring peace to the galaxy... as long as the Oston Empire doesn't buy it first.
Claudio, Ambellina, Jesse, The Writing Writer, Mayo Deftinwolf

I'm on the Rocketgirl side of all this - I didn't do heaps of research into the history of the game but was taken in by the alleged science / evolution content. Didn't even consider the space stage - wasn't and still aren't interested in the space stage - which doesn't help my prospects of looking forward to the "expansion".

The creature creator is FLUFF and to add to it is more fluff. If it made some difference to survivability/gameplay beyond stacking on all the 5 point parts it might itself evolve beyond fluff. My kids(10, 12) don't even find it amusing - they left their block sets a long time ago and don't see the need for an electronic form.

If gameplay to you is adding parts and taking them off again (the complexity meter will get you) then more parts will add to your gameplay. If the parts and their physical arrangement make a change to the way my creature "lives" and survives it will add to my gameplay.

I am also amused by the counter "argument" that not to find the creator great indicates lack of imagination - I would have considered it the opposite - my imagination runs to function as well as the form and colour on offer atm.

unclecaveman wrote:Because you have seen exactly the type of missions that are going to be possible, and know for sure that they are going to be basic fetch quests that do not have any real purpose, right? I mean, everybody knows that Maxis is not able to possibly make something better, more interesting, and more fun.

So, how exactly do you think they're going to do anything other than make variants on the missions we already have? Everything there is to do in the Spore Galaxy has already been found; the game is too SIMPLE to have the kinds of complicated missions that would make a mission pack interesting.

Unless this pack makes some truly fundamental changes to actual gameplay--adding advanced and detailed diplomatic systems, for example, or making ecosystems less of a fill-in-the-blanks kind of affair--there's not a whole heckuvalot they can possibly do. Because there already isn't a lot to do in the Sporeverse: go there, kill that, fetch this, change that, buy/sell those...what else is there to do?

If they're going to add to the game, they should add what the game needs: complexity.

Lucy said in an interview that they are adding, guess what, DEPTH! She used that exact word. Gameplay depth. People were compaining about not enough gameplay depth, so they are going to flesh it out a lot more with this expansion pack. Besides, I highly doubt the mission editor and beaming down is the only thing in the pack. No expansion pack ever released has had only a minor tweak or two. They always have pretty hefty changes, such as a new campaign, new classes, new weapons, whatever. Maxis isn't going to just add a small amount of gameplay in a full fledged expansion, claim it adds to the depth that people want, and be on their way. They would lose a large amount of customers by doing that.

They know people are complaining. They are trying to fix that by adding new features and increasing the amount of gameplay. They have seen people's reactions to the game, and are going out of their way to improve it to make their customers happy. Why would you complain about them trying to fix the problem you were complaining about originally?

"You messed it up, blarg. Now you're trying to fix it? Screw you! You shouldn't have messed up in the first place! BLARGETTY BLARG BLARG!"

Who says maxis is going to add all the stuff that you say. They seemed to have omitted any element of game from the Original release. But then again. I could be extremely suprised. (but so far my hopes are not that high). Though in the end.. I hope that they release a patch to make the parts pack actually useful, and release the bang up all get out expansion pack of the year.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 10/16/2008 00:01:12

The castle crumbles from within. Outsiders will not notice till the last of the walls come down.

Lucy said in an interview that they are adding, guess what, DEPTH! She used that exact word. Gameplay depth. People were compaining about not enough gameplay depth, so they are going to flesh it out a lot more with this expansion pack. /snip

I had to chuckle at this. Consider the source, Caveman. Lucy, in that same interview also said "there is no price point yet for the packs" even though the very next question was about how people are complaining about the price of it and wow, she even said "the game has a great deal of depth". LOL. It does? Where?

Are they predicting this will sell only to a small fraction of the previous customers, so they can make their money not by the quantity sold but by overpricing it?

Yes, and yes. They are scared sporeless by the drop in purchases so soon after the release, so somebody in marketing had the oh-so-brilliant idea of "giving Malibu Stacy a new hat!" Such a masterful marketing ploy! Nobody will ever see through so transparent a scheme! And people will buy it, or they will be left with a newly broken Spore, unable to auto-download large swaths of content!

im getting the expansion pack, i enjoy making creatures. I just hope they did something right witch the stats. All of my max stat creatures were made useless after the game was released. Looks like someone was cowardly enough to rate me down for my comment on thinking about getting the expansion pack. Really? this is what it comes down to

Personally, I'm very much looking forward to the expansion pack, even though very little information has been released. All of the Sims 2 expansions added considerable depth to the game, and I'm sure it will be the same for Spore. But of course, I'm one of those silly people that thinks Spore is already a fantastic game anyway, so what do I know?

I think its a ripoff and they should lower the price, but my friend thinks what they are doing is reasonable because they worked eight years on the game and needed a better profit. I don't think thats a good reason though

yes, yes... i know i should get off the computer.. but can i stay on for a few more hours?
I am as fast as a cheetah
but as dangerous as an epic
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Will the 'Cute & Creepy' pack have cute and creepy creature sounds, aswell? I'm tired of listening to the same generic grunts and howls and would like to see some new sound bytes, or maybe even the ability to choose what your creature sounds like.